Italy's+History

=Italy's History = The earliest known evidence of inhabitants in Italy date all the way back to the "Old Stone Age," which was between 2.5 million to 200,000 years ago. These people were of the Ligurian stock, which meant they were ancient people who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast that included the mouth of the Arno river in Italy. During the "Bronze Age" dated back to the 17th and 18th centuries BC a migration of the Arcadians from the Aegean towards Southern Italy took place. These people were called Oenotrians and were led by their king Oenotro. Because of the mixing with the local populations, the Ausonians (Ausones), the Chones, the Morgetes, the Itali, the Siculians, and probably the latins, all descended from the Oenotrians.

Before 800 BC the Etruscans had established settlements in central Italy and were running a complex empire. In 753 BC the city of Rome was founded by local Latins and Sabines in northern Italy and was ran by Etruscan kings. After the expulsion of the last few Etruscan kings the power of the Etruscans declined and the Romans began the unification of Italy. This led to the Roman republic who eventually began to started to expand Roman power. In 89 BC Roman citizenship was given out freely to all Italians, and Latin was the general language in Italy. In 55 BC after Julius Caesar conquered the Gauls he continued on for the first Roman invasion on the British. Caesar's actions led to him becoming dictator of the Roman Republic. This is when the seeds of the Roman Empire were planted. The Empire's growth began effectively when Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar, who was the first emperor, defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra in 31BC. A high quality system of roads were built throughout Italy, Christianity was spreading quickly, Italy made tax exempt, and never since has Italy celebrated  the same level of prosperity or as long a chapter of peace. During this period of time, which the Roman Empire lasted until about the 5th century AD, there were many emperors, and during the time of emperor //Diocletian// //(284-305 AD)//  the Empire was split into two sections, west and east where the east emperor had seniority. The eastern Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of Rome to Byzantium in 330 AD. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 the Eastern Emperor Zeno tried to reunite the Empire and reign alone, but the western half did fall into the hands of barbarian control. The Ostrogoths took control and placed Theodoric as the king. These times were called Middle Ages in Italy when the Barbarians were in control.

Finally in 962 German King Otto I was erged by the pope to come and take control of the part of Southern Italy where the barbarians controlled. He did just so and was named king of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire lasted until 1806 going through many different famillies of Emperors. During this long period of time many parts of Italy rose to empower themselves, such as Milan, Genoa, Venice, Florence, and Pisa. These parts of Italy were referred to as City-States.In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, marking the beginning of a period of foreign control that lasted until the 19th century. By 1550 almost all of Italy had been dominated by the Habsburg ruler Charles V, who was both the Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain. When Charles abdicated in 1555-56, dividing the Habsburg territories between his brother Emperor Ferdinand I and his son Philip II of Spain, Italy was part of the latter's inheritance. Spain remained the central power in Italy until Austria replaced it after the War of the Spanish Succession which lasted from 1701 to 1714. Between 1796 and 1814 the entire Italian peninsula was under Franch control. Austria's was gaining power in Italy very quickly and was the one to push out the French in 1814. Now most of Italy was controlled by Austria. Charles Albert, king of Sardinia finally took a stand for Italian independence and declared war on Austria in 1848. In 1860 with the help of their new allies France and Britain Italy gained control of Lombardy in North Italy. That same year Italy sent troops to Sicily and defeated the Austrians, and in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.

In the early years before World War I Italy unofficially sided with the three power Axis which also included Germany and Austria. In 1911 Italy declared war on Turkey to obtain the North African territory of Libya. They remained enemies until 1915 when Italy officially switched sides to the allies power after being promised territories not owned by Italy. Not ready for a major war Italy suffered a lot, and in the end they did not get as much territory as promised.

Italy joined World War II on the Axis power in 1940. Italy lasted three years in the war fighting along side Germany behind its leader Benito Mussolini before the allies attacked Sicily and the people of Italy turned on their leader. After surrendering to the Allies Italy declared war on Germany and fought on the allies side until the end of the war in 1945.

Between 1945 and 1948 a new Italian nation emerged from the disaster of the war. On June 2nd, 1946 a popular election abolished the monarchy in favor of a republic; a new constitution was brought in the next year. The Christian Democrats, the Communists, and the Socialists became the leading political parties in the country. With U.S. aid, Italy underwent an outstanding economic recovery that saw quick industrial development and a sharp increase in the standard of living. In the 1960s prosperity continued throughout Italy.In the late 1970s and early 1980s a volatile political situation took place because of frequent government scandals, and the violence of extremist groups. Italian Mafia crimes were starting to become a problem in Italy. In 1992-93 new parties began to win the votes from most of the people in Italy who demanded political reforms. In 1994 the voters got what they wanted and started a <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">conservative coalition called the Alliance for Freedom. Right now Italy is being run by <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Giorgio Napolitano who was elected in May, 2006 and his terms will end in 2013.